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The yearlong , operated at CU Boulder through the , helps young leaders and changemakers develop leadership skills grounded in compassion, empathy and community engagement. Through projects in their local communities and immersive experiences abroad, fellows explore how mindfulness and an understanding of interdependence can inform leadership, strengthen decision-making and help business leaders navigate an increasingly complex and interconnected world. This spring, fellows traveled to Dharamshala, India, where they met the Dalai Lama and connected with peers from around the world. This was the first time the fellowship’s annual gathering was held outside of the United States.

For Charlie Misraje (Mgmt’26), meeting the Dalai Lama was awe-inspiring. “It wasn't so much an experience, but a feeling that’s hard to explain,” she said. “As soon as I caught a glimpse of him and realized I was in his presence, I instantly felt at peace, almost as if time stopped.”

Founded with the support of the Dalai Lama and facilitated in partnership with the University of Virginia’s Contemplative Sciences Center, the CU Boulder program launched in 2022. It expanded in 2023 to include Leeds students, focusing on cultivating compassionate, contemplative leaders and advancing leadership excellence.��Jeremy May (Acct’92), CEO of Paralel Technologies and a CU Foundation trustee, helped envision the expansion and made it possible—providing both partnership and financial support to the program. �鶹��Ժ first traveled to India in 2024.

, research associate at the Crown Institute and co-leader of the Dalai Lama Fellowship, and Sebastian Villa Betancur, assistant professor of Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Operations at Leeds and a Crown Institute faculty fellow, reflected on the travel experience and its relevance for future business leaders.

What is the purpose of the Dalai Lama Fellows trip, and how does it expand students’ thinking?

Sapkota: The Dalai Lama Fellows assembly brings together students, community-engaged fellows and young professionals from around the world to deepen the program’s core values of contemplation and community. Participants engage with these themes throughout the year, then gather in person to broaden their understanding.

This year was especially significant because it marked the first assembly where fellows from different cohorts could meet the Dalai Lama. Being in Dharamshala enriched the program through collaboration with local community leaders and organizations, including site visits and informational engagements. These experiences complemented the program’s academic and research components with the lived perspectives from Tibetan and Buddhist communities.

What makes this trip uniquely valuable within a business education?

Sapkota: �鶹��Ժ learn alongside peers engaged in community work through businesses, NGOs and education. They gain a global perspective on how practices, teachings and knowledge of compassion, meditation, interdependence and mindfulness—rooted in South Asian traditions—connect to and complement the academic learning and research contexts at CU Boulder.

Villa Betancur: The trip moves leadership beyond a purely technical or analytical endeavor. In Dharamshala, we encounter traditions that place compassion at the center of meaningful action—not as merely a sentiment or corporate values statement, but as a discipline brought deliberately into every decision. The challenges our students will face will require leaders who can see the humanity in those affected by their choices and who are motivated by more than personal gain. Contemplative practice provides exactly that foundation.

What leadership lessons are most relevant in today’s global business environment?

Sapkota: We want students to understand the importance of interdependence and compassion as sustainable values in the global business environment. Business is often stigmatized as purely profit-driven, but we aim to show a more balanced approach. We are not suggesting steering away from profit-making but rather illustrating how value is interconnected and shared across communities.��

Villa Bentancur: Two lessons stand out. As Shubham said, the first is interdependence. As the Dalai Lama teaches, no organization, no leader and no community exists in isolation. In business, we talk about stakeholder ecosystems, supply chains and global markets. Interdependence as a lived leadership value means recognizing that decisions ripple outward in ways we may never fully see. �鶹��Ժ who internalize this begin to ask not just “What is the return?” but “What is the impact, and on whom?”

The second is inner stability amid uncertainty. Contemplative traditions emphasize cultivating a stable, grounded inner life—not as a retreat from the world, but as the foundation for engaging it effectively. Today’s business environment is defined by volatility and ambiguity. Leaders who remain clear-headed, emotionally regulated and values-driven under pressure are exceptionally valuable. Mindfulness and contemplative practice are not soft extras; they are competitive advantages.

How do you hope students carry these lessons forward?

Sapkota:���鶹��Ժ described this trip as one of the most meaningful experiences of their lives. The setting, engagements and trust built during the assembly made the lessons uniquely tangible. Concepts like compassion and interdependence were no longer abstract but rooted in lived experience and the teachings of community and religious leaders.

We hope these experiences and lessons stay with students throughout their time at Leeds and beyond. When they think about interdependence, it won’t only be an intellectual understanding of systems thinking, but a knowledge of how the concepts permeate all aspects of life, rather than being limited to a market, economy or business.

Villa Betancur: I hope students carried back a different understanding of what it means to perform well both professionally and as human beings. The traditions we encountered teach something business culture rarely pauses to say: that lasting happiness does not come from external achievement but from the quality of one's inner life—managing the mind, cultivating emotional awareness and building genuine equanimity. These are not indulgences; they are disciplines as rigorous and important as anything in the curriculum. Investing in inner development strengthens one’s ability to help others. The world needs leaders who are well from the inside out.

Watch students meeting His Holiness the Dalai Lama

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